


The Copy-Wheel Curse

by bladeofthestars



Category: Naruto
Genre: Blood Drinking, First Kiss, First Time, Getting Together, M/M, One Shot, Some pining, Uchiha curse, basically the characters are really only Gai Kakashi and Yamato but the others are mentioned, but not super painfully so, not super graphic but there is blood and sex, one-sided Hatake Kakashi/Yamato, vampire!Hatake Kakashi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-13 13:16:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29776734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bladeofthestars/pseuds/bladeofthestars
Summary: Yamato counted himself lucky that the price for his stolen prowess was just a high likelihood of death over a certain period of time rather than the lingering thing Kakashi had been saddled with.A slightly alternate universe fic where there are heavier prices for Kakashi's Sharingan.
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi/Maito Gai | Might Guy, Hatake Kakashi/Yamato | Tenzou
Comments: 4
Kudos: 25





	The Copy-Wheel Curse

The Uchiha clan was cursed, that much was known by most. 

What was not widely known was that the coveted Sharingan, if obtained by another, carried the curse with it. An evolutionary defense mechanism, perhaps, as Orochimaru had found that trying to transfer other prowesses to shinobi without them frequently resulted in death. 

Kakashi couldn’t have known as he graciously accepted his friend’s powerful dying gift. He didn’t understand that his body wasn’t simply rejecting the eye as it ached daily and he started to waste away. He didn’t know why being close to people was suddenly terrifying, only that it instinctively was. No, he didn’t grasp that he had been gifted a terrible burden until Rin was bloodied and dead and his new name was Friend-Killer Kakashi.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Tenzō didn’t know the details of Rin’s death, just that Kakashi couldn’t protect her. When he joined the Anbu with Kakashi as his new captain, he was told what had happened and why it had happened by superiors in a clinical, detached sort of way. He was told Kakashi would need to make frequent hospital trips when in the village and when away on missions he had special provisions they should endeavour to protect. He was told what to do if those provisions ran out.

This is what led ~~Tenzō~~ Cat to stand in front of his captain, hand outstretched, wrist up. Inviting.

“What?”

“Feed,” Cat repeated. “We had provisions for one week, it’s been three. Some things can be replenished with foraging, some cannot. This is one of them.”

“Cat, I can’t just-”

“You can and you will, Hound. You are the captain. We cannot risk your distraction at a vital time. We can’t risk you weakening. Take what is freely offered now rather than what isn’t later by force.”

Cat couldn’t see Hound’s eyes behind his mask. There was no expression to read as they stood there in silence. Slowly, Hound’s head tipped down, mask now facing Cat’s wrist rather than his head. Hound lifted his mask just enough to pull his other face covering down, exposing only his mouth. He grasped Cat’s hand with one of his own, other hand braced further down on Cat’s arm, and brought the offered wrist to his mouth. Cat caught a glimpse of fanged teeth before Hound bit down.

At first all he could notice was the shock of pain at the initial bite, but after that had subsided, he gasped involuntarily. Cat didn’t know what he wanted, but he _wanted_. His currently unoccupied hand reached out and shakily cupped the side of Hound’s head, fingers buried in the silver hair. It was softer than he’d expected. Cat’s face felt hot, the spot at his wrist even hotter. His toes were starting to feel a bit cold and he was starting to pant, but he didn’t notice, fixated on the lips and tongue he could feel on him.

“That’s-” Hound shuddered out a breath as he straightened up, “that should be enough. Let me bandage this for you.”

No blood was on his face, though Cat could see a hint of it staining his teeth. His wrist was similarly clean, save for the fresh trickle slowly oozing out of the wound. He barely registered Hound wiping antiseptic over it and wrapping it.

The mission was successful, Hound’s Sharingan getting them out of a tight spot as it frequently did.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Gai had been ridiculously excited at the prospect of going on such a long mission with his Eternal Rival at first, but even the best of moods start to dampen slightly when one has spent a month or more in the wild without even the comfort of an occasional inn stay. It didn’t help that his usually laid back friend had been growing increasingly agitated in his presence, his aversion to touch or even being within five feet of Gai getting stronger by the day. 

It finally came to a head when Gai and Kakashi went to bathe in a nearby river, leaving their other two teammates at camp. A good buddy system means one never goes off alone, especially for sensitive tasks such as this. Gai had just removed his flak jacket when Kakashi collapsed heavily on him. Gai liked to think he had gotten good at reading Kakashi’s one visible eye over the years and right now it was telling him that his friend was feeling quite ill. He hoisted the man over to a nearby tree and fidgeted until he could get Kakashi into a comfortable sitting position leaning against it.

“Rival, are you alright?”

“You… you should get away, Gai,” Kakashi panted.

“What? I would never just leave you out here like this!”

“Gai…” Kakashi groaned. Gai gulped. He chased a rather unchivalrous thought from his mind with a broom. “Gai, I need…”

Gai grasped Kakashi's shoulders gently. “Anything. Anything of mine is yours, and if I don’t have it I’ll go find some.” Kakashi slumped forward, Gai let him. His Rival’s face tucked neatly into the crook of his neck, he willed his goosebumps away as he felt the other man’s breath there. 

“You can’t mean that.” 

It was no louder than a whisper, but in such close proximity it didn’t matter. 

“I absolutely do, with all my heart.” Gai said firmly.

Kakashi croaked out a laugh, then weakly reached up and pulled his mask down. From the angle they were at, Gai still couldn’t see his face.

“Forgive me, Gai.”

Gai felt lips on his neck first and his brain took off at a million miles an hour. Had an enemy trapped his friend in a genjutsu? Had he been inflicted with an aphrodisiac? Was this a confession before a death Kakashi was certain of? What- All thoughts came to a screeching halt as he felt the teeth pressing in, gently at first but firmer until they broke through. There was pain, sure, but Gai barely registered it. He frequently powered through pain during training and also frequently bit himself to draw blood for summoning. No, the pain was immediately ignored in favor of the other feelings thundering in his veins.

Gai drew Kakashi into his lap and wrapped his arms around him, holding him as he continued to draw and lick at the wound at his neck. Kakashi allowed it, encouraged it even. He wrapped his arms around Gai, one hand rubbing soothingly up and down his spine. Suddenly Gai was allowed all of the closeness and more that he had been missing these last few weeks. He rested his head on Kakashi’s shoulder and thought of nothing but the man’s warm weight, the sound of his breathing, the feeling of their hearts pounding in tandem in their chests. 

When Kakashi finally pulled back, Gai had calmed to a very relaxed state, pleased to have had the other so close for so long. Kakashi hadn’t pulled his mask back down yet, so Gai was busy admiring the face he so rarely got to see when Kakashi asked:

“Do you hate me?”

“I could never.”

Kakashi helped him take care of the bite and then they bathed in companionable silence.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Gai had had a long conversation with Kakashi when they’d gotten back to the village after that mission. After learning exactly what was going on, he’d made it one of his personal duties to make sure Kakashi went to the hospital weekly to get his provision of donated blood. Gai had gone to the Hokage in private and mentioned his personal belief that him and Kakashi worked well together as well as his strong desire to team with him more frequently. He wasn’t sure if his request had had any effect or if the highly successful results of any of his missions with Kakashi simply spoke for themself, but either way he was happy as they were teamed more. 

They fell into a comfortable routine when away together, always rooming together if they had the luxury of an inn room and always bathing together if they didn’t. Kakashi had been hesitant at first, but Gai always offered with such carefree ease, as if it was just another natural part of their friendship, that eventually Kakashi was not afraid to ask. Gai was proud of himself for helping his friend get comfortable enough to ask him for help without complaint.

Gai was not proud, however, of the feelings that usually came with giving his help.

He was self-aware enough to admit to himself that it had always been Kakashi, since the moment he’d laid eyes on him, even if he hadn’t been quite old enough to realize it then. He wasn’t ashamed to call his Eternal Rival his man of destiny straight to his face. He wasn’t ashamed to make declarations of a long future together to the man. He wasn’t afraid to hug Kakashi when his friend needed it or even to hug him when Gai needed it himself.

Gai wasn’t sure if he had made his feelings plain to his Rival. If he had, then Kakashi had surely gently and graciously rejected him by never talking about it and allowing things to remain as they were. Which was why Gai was so ashamed. Helping take care of his Rival’s curse frequently felt like the closeness that Gai had craved having with Kakashi for so long. Kakashi never complained, but surely it was taking advantage of the situation to hold the man close while he did his business, to hope that something more would happen in the heat of the moment, to _yearn_ about it later. Not that he had voiced any of the yearning to Kakashi. But the man never complained about Gai running his fingers through his hair or generally holding him during the blood taking and often Kakashi would soothe at knots in Gai’s back and shoulders during. 

They were staying at a particularly nice inn tonight and Gai knew Kakashi would need some. Though he was given blood exactly once a week while in town, Gai had noticed that Kakashi’s actual needs weren’t like clockwork. He could see the general change in demeanor and an ever increasing pallor to the man’s skin when he was starting to need it. Gai had long since started to suspect that the more Kakashi used his Sharingan, the more frequently he needed to feed. On one particularly bad mission, Kakashi had fed from him twice in a three day span.

Gai didn’t avert his eyes as Kakashi laid his towel down to get into the onsen, but he didn’t stare either. He laid aside his own towel and strutted into the water next to his friend. He had just gotten settled when he noticed his friend side-eyeing him with a mischievous squint.

“Gai, I challenge you to a breath-holding contest.” Kakashi turned to fully face him.

“I accept your challenge!” Gai yelled back, ignoring the flinches of some other nearby patrons.

They both took in a deep breath and sunk into the water, only their eyes remaining above the surface, locked on to the other’s. After a couple of minutes of silence, Gai decided it was time to spice up the challenge and started waggling his eyebrows at his Rival. He could see Kakashi’s characteristic squint-smile, but no air escaped from the man. Instead, he reached out of the water to wet his own hair and styled it until it looked like a giant shuriken. Gai repressed a snort and continued with increasingly contrived eyebrow motions as he reached up to style parts of his own hair into looking like floppy dog ears. Kakashi’s face went red, but he wasn’t sure if it was from the heat of the onsen or from trying to hold in his own laugh.

His Rival retaliated physically this time, quickly jabbing Gai in his armpits under the water, causing a spray to erupt from the surface. Other patrons scooted away from them, not wanting to get splashed. Gai’s face was screwed up as tight as it could go as he retaliated, going mainly for Kakashi’s armpits but also occasionally the crook of his neck. 

After about a solid minute of increasingly ridiculous tickling, water flying in all directions, both of them burst out laughing at the same time and were forced to surface for air.

“Looks like another tie! I’m glad I get to spend my youth with such a worthy Rival!”

“C’mon, let’s go order dinner.”

Gai followed Kakashi as he got up and out of the water. They dried off, got into yukatas, and collected their other teammates from the mission, Kurenai and Asuma. They chatted companionably as they waited for the food to arrive. When it finally did, Gai poured sake for everyone and Kakashi poured for him.

“Kanpai!”

As shinobi that weren’t in the comfort of their own village, they all drank less than they normally would have, though Gai knew the others were definitely as pleasantly buzzed as he was if the rosy cheeks were anything to go by. Maybe an hour after they’d all tapped out, Kurenai and Asuma left to go to their own room for the night. The staff came to clear the meal remnants away and many thank yous were said.

And then they were alone. They spread out their futons, close but not quite touching. Gai remained standing as Kakashi stretched out. He gulped and hoped his blush was not noticeable under the effects of the sake.

“Kakashi, do you need it tonight?”

Kakashi looked up at him sleepily. 

“Yeah, probably should, huh? Better here where you have plenty of food to recover.”

Gai nudged his futon until it touched Kakashi’s, then laid down. He loosened his yukata enough to bare his neck. He watched Kakashi’s eye trace the curve of his neck and linger on the spot he usually bit. He frowned and reached a finger up to gently touch it.

“I’ve scarred you.”

Gai struggled not to lean into the touch.

“I don’t mind.”

“Why are you so… okay with this?” Kakashi sounded curious, Gai could hear the underlying notes of sadness and a hint of anger that it seemed he was trying to hide.

“Why don’t you ever take blood from adversaries?” Gai countered.

“It’s too intimate.” Kakashi said quietly, after a long moment of silence. “Even if it was just a bag, like the hospital gives me, it would be too intimate. I don’t… I don’t like the idea of an enemy being a part of me like that.”

Gai propped himself up on an elbow and nodded. “It feels intimate to me, too. I… like being able to provide this for you. I like being integral to your life like this.”

“You’re not just okay with it, you _like_ it?” Kakashi’s voice went up an octave.

Gai blushed harder. He thought he’d been pretty obvious, but maybe he hadn’t been obvious enough. Welp, time to double down.

“I like being close to you and it’s the closest we ever get,” Gai rubbed the back of his own neck with the hand not currently propping him up, then added in a smaller voice than he had probably ever used in his lifetime: “...and it feels good.”

“It- you- what??”

Gai couldn’t meet his eye, looked anywhere but at his friend. Kakashi reached out and grabbed him by the chin.

“Say that again.”

“It feels good.”

Kakashi groaned and Gai looked away again.

“I understand if you don’t want to do this anymore, I probably should have told you from the start about that, but I also wanted it to be easy for you to have someone to go to so you wouldn’t push yourself so hard because it really seemed like you were on the brink of death that first time and-”

“Gai.”

“Hn?”

“So you mean to tell me I haven’t been placing a huge, painful burden on my best friend?”

“...Right.”

Kakashi huffed a sigh of relief, then caught Gai’s gaze again. 

“And you… like being close to me?”

Gai nodded wordlessly. Kakashi shuffled over the futons until their chests were pressed together.

“You don’t have to- You can be close to me without it having to be this.”

Guy looked down at him and cupped the side of his face. Kakashi closed his eye and leaned into it. Gai ran a finger along the edge of his mask questioningly. Kakashi nodded. Gai pulled the mask down, traced Kakashi’s lower lip lingeringly with his thumb. Gai leaned in slowly, slowly, and after many long moments of panting into each other’s space he pressed his lips to Kakashi’s. 

That same feeling that Gai had gotten the first time Kakashi bit him (and every time after) surged through his veins once more. He wrapped his free arm around Kakashi’s waist, holding the man to him tightly. He lowered himself to the futon, Kakashi’s head pillowed on the arm that was holding him up. Kakashi’s hands were gripped in his hair and his lips moved urgently against Gai’s own. Gai tilted his head and tentatively poked out his tongue, tracing Kakashi’s lip with it like he had with his thumb just a moment ago. Kakashi opened his mouth and slid his tongue against Gai’s, groaning lowly. Gai pressed a few more kisses to Kakashi’s mouth before drawing back.

“Can I have both?”

Kakashi looked confused, so he elaborated.

“Can I have this and also give myself to you when you need it?”

“That would be… beneficial to me. You know it can’t always be you though, right? Sometimes we’re not on the same team like this and the need arises. I… Tenzō usually offers help when it’s needed too. I’ve been fortunate enough to not have to rely on anyone other than you two yet, but I just need you to know that by nature of what that is, it cannot be exclusive.”

“Can this part be exclusive?” Gai asked softly, leaning in to kiss him again.

“Yes.” Kakashi smiled into the kiss.

After another hazy bout of making out, Gai guided Kakashi to the spot he usually used. Kakashi bit in and this time Gai didn’t hold back. He groaned and rutted against him, surprised and pleased to find the other man just as hard as he was. Kakashi made stifled little moans at his neck and continued to draw from him as Gai slotted their hips together better, one hand on the small of Kakashi’s back, and began to really grind. 

Kakashi stopped drinking sooner than usual. Gai raised an eyebrow at him. Kakashi blushed.

“Afraid I’ll take too much while being distracted by feeling good.”

Gai pressed their hips together again in response, a long and slow stroke. Kakashi gasped a bit but was clearly focused on trying to clean his mouth of the traces of blood. Gai watched until it looked like he was done, then swooped in for another kiss. As he swept his tongue against Kakashi’s he caught faint traces of metallic taste, but he didn’t care. He rolled them over so Kakashi was on his back and continued to grind insistently, kissing Kakashi for all he was worth.

Kakashi’s hands wandered, pressing at Gai’s lower back as Kakashi arched up against him, gripping Gai’s ass, drifting admiringly down his biceps, cupping his face lovingly. Kakashi was holding his face as they both finished, crying out into each other’s mouths. Gai rolled off of him and they continued to exchange lazy kisses until they fell asleep.

When Gai woke up the next morning, Kakashi was already awake but still sprawled across his chest. His Rival cleaned and bandaged what he had neglected to the night before and Gai pondered what being Eternal Rivals meant to him.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Kakashi had been in the wilderness with his cute little students for about five weeks now and he was starting to feel fucking feral. He wished for about the millionth time that animal blood would slake the thirst of the curse, but the one time he had tried pig’s blood not only had he gotten horrifically ill, it had not stopped the burning ache in his eye, the pallor in his skin, or the weakening of his body and will. Outwardly, he read Icha Icha and tried his best to look disinterested in the goings-on of their ludicrously extended D-rank mission. Inwardly, he couldn’t stop thinking about how he had snapped “Don’t touch me!” at Naruto when the genin had spontaneously hugged him yesterday after they successfully thwarted an ambush.

Kakashi shuddered at the thought of sinking his teeth into one of his genins’ wrists and taking so much that their heart stopped. They were so much smaller than him. If anyone could handle it, it would be Naruto, but that absolutely wasn’t going to happen. Never.

Kakashi kept himself contained until they finally arrived at the town gates at the end of the sixth week. Sakura turned to him to invite him to dinner with the rest of the team, but he Body Flickered away without a word, desperate to get to the hospital.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Gai walked into his apartment after a mission and could sense that Kakashi was already there. He found him in the bathroom, looking into the mirror with a kind of glazed over look in his eye, mask down and poking at his teeth. Running a nail over the shape of one of his canines over and over, poking the point into the tip of his thumb, watching in the mirror as he pressed the point into his tongue, pulling his tongue back and clenching his teeth together, tracing the path of his canines where they poked up into his top row of teeth and down into the bottom row. 

“Kakashi,” Gai called gently as he approached the bathroom. Kakashi stopped his motion, but continued to stare into the mirror with the same distant look.

“You know they were like that before you got the eye, right?”

Kakashi finally turned to look at him, recognition starting to bloom in his visible eye in the place of the horrible “lights are on but no one’s home” look he had been sporting.

“They were long and sharp like that when we were children, too. A gift of your heritage, like my dazzling and strong brow.” Guy posed at Kakashi, thumb out, teeth twinkling, and waggled the brows in question. One corner of Kakashi’s mouth turned up, and he pulled his mask back up.

“I didn’t really spend a lot of time looking at my face as a kid. Didn’t realize.”

“I know. That’s why I told you.”

After a moment of silence, Gai reached up, pausing to give Kakashi a questioning glance. His Rival nodded minimally. Gai gathered him into his arms.

“I need a shower and then I’d like to go get dinner. Feel free to join me with either.” He felt Kakashi smirk against his neck.

“I bet I can shower faster than you.”

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Yamato walked out of the house he had made for the team in silence to go take his watch. Kiba nodded at him as he took his place. He wondered if this was all worth it. Yet another mission to try to find Sasuke and it seemed to be going about as well as all the others had. After all this trouble, even if they did succeed in bringing him home, what would he be like? Sasuke of the Uchiha clan, with two Sharingan. How did the curse manifest in him? Maybe his bloodlust was external rather than internal, needing to see it rather than needing to consume it. Maybe it was just plain old hate.

Yamato counted himself lucky that the price for his stolen prowess was just a high likelihood of death over a certain period of time rather than the lingering thing Kakashi had been saddled with. Speaking of, it was about time for Kakashi to need another round. As he thought of the other man, he could feel his chakra signature approaching. Kakashi walked up and sat next to him at his post.

“Yo.”

“Hey. Everything good?”

“No disturbances yet. Probably going to try to go get some rest, but needed to stop by you first and… uh…”

Yamato rolled up his sleeve and squinted at the man next to him. He held out his arm, which Kakashi took.

“Why are you acting strange about it? We’ve done this plenty of times, I know what you need.”

Kakashi brought the offered wrist up to his mouth and reached up to pull down his mask, but paused. He looked up at Yamato and Yamato tried not to think anything stupid for fear he might somehow be heard. Maybe Kakashi had heard anyway because the next words out of his mouth were:

“Does it feel good?”

“I- what?” Yamato spluttered, repressing a blush.

“Gai says it feels good when I do this with him. Does it feel good for you, too?”

There was a slightly teasing edge to his tone and he sounded almost hopeful. Yamato tried not to read into it too much.

“I… uh… Yeah. It does.” He could no longer repress the blush. Kakashi’s eye widened in surprise. 

“Well, glad to know that at least when it comes to this I haven’t been torturing you for all these years,” he said, then finally pulled his mask down and bit him. Yamato could only squeak in response.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

“So, are you glad to finally be rid of it?” Gai asked Kakashi one day.

“Well… It was an invaluable asset to me as a shinobi, kept me alive on countless occasions, and was a keepsake from a dear friend. But… yes, honestly.”

Gai nodded sagely. 

“I won’t miss having to wonder if I might accidentally hurt a comrade or trying to plan where my next dose is going to come from. I won’t miss trying to hold out until I can get back to town on those long jaunts anymore either.”

“I might miss it a little,” Gai laughed.

“If you want me to bite you you could just ask nicely, pervert.” Kakashi deadpanned.

Gai chuckled again and pulled his Rival in for a kiss. The kiss quickly deepened. As they broke apart to breathe a little, Gai made his request:

“Do it. Bite me.”

“Bite me _what_?”

“Bite me… please?”

Kakashi leaned in slowly, rubbing his nose and lips sensually over the scarred skin at the base of Gai’s neck. He opened his mouth slowly, positioned it just so, started to clamp and-

“Ow, FUCK!”

He withdrew quickly, spitting Gai’s blood from his mouth. Gai clutched the spot with bewilderment. 

“I… I guess the Sharingan just does something to make it easier?”

“I guess. Definitely didn’t taste good that time, either. Well… Let’s go get you bandaged up.”


End file.
